1 has also been listed as from june 3, 1975 06-03-75 060375: 2, 3, 4, and 5 have also been listed as from july 10, 1975 07-10-75 071075 6, 7 and 8 have also been listed as from june 5, 1975 06-05-75 060575

**********************************************

disc 2 ( 64.59 ) of 4

1. (x) Slipknot (x) (overlap with ending of track 8 on

disc 1 of 4 above) (0.17)

2. Spacely Noodling jam (23.01) >

3. Staccato jam (x) (7.25)

4. (x) Stronger Than Dirt jam (1.15) >

5. drummers (BK: "Mick! 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.") >

Stronger Than Dirt jam (with J. Garcia playing

Stronger Than Dirt riff) (3.41) >

6. Stronger Than Dirt jam (with J. Garcia soloing

over jam) (4.46) >

7. Stronger Than Dirt riff (only J. Garcia) (0.25)

8. (x) J. Garcia playing Stronger Than Dirt riff >

drummers > J. Garcia playing short Stronger

Than Dirt riffs (1.03)

9. Stronger Than Dirt (riffs by J. Garcia with band

joining in randomly) jam (5.21)

Blues For Allah rehearsal - March xx 1975

10. J. Garcia soloing > "Yeah, that's where I meant that

to be in relations to the nine." > "Nines" jam (x) (1.11)

11. tape rewind (0.08)

12. (x) "Nines" jam (8.36) >

13. Spacely jam (2.12) >

14. "Nines" jam (1.50) >

15. Space and Out jam > faint cheers in studio (3.54)

notes:

1 to 9 have also been listed as from June 3, 1975 06-03-75 060375

**********************************************

disc 3 ( 66.58 ) of 4

Blues For Allah rehearsals - March xx 1975

1. (x) Blues For Allah intro-like jam (3.03) >

2. Jam (0.43) >

3. Stronger Than Dirt Jam (0.42) >

4. Slipknot! Jam (4.06) >

5. Jam (3.20) >

6. Jam (0.45) >

7. Jam (4.47) >

8. Blues For Allah outro (2.42)

9. (x) Staccato Jam (6.16) >

10. Jam (4.52) >

11. Jam (5.38) (total = )

12. JG: "1, 2, ah, 1, 2, 3, 4." >

Help On The Way > Slipknot (8.25)

13. (slight 60Hz hum in L channel at start)

Help On The Way > Slipknot (6.11)

14. (x) noodling > Help On The Way > Slipknot (7.20) >

15. Franklin's Tower (v) > JG: "Stunning." (8.13)

**********************************************

disc 4 ( 63.02 ) of 4

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10, 11/12/13/14/15/16, 17

March xx 1975

1. (x) Slipknot-type jam (3.07) >

2. Slipknot jam (4.14) >

3. Slipknot jam (1.54) >

4. Slipknot jam 0.53) >>

5. Slipknot-spacely jam 1.21) >

6. J. Garcia and drums (x) (1.32)

7. (x) lazy lightning (fadeout) (0.16)

8. J. Garcia: "ah two, ah, one, two, three, four." >

Franklin's Tower (v) > "Show (?)" and "A-ow! (?)

at end while still playing > "Well, tha (x)." (4.52)>.

9. (x) tape rewind > J. Garcia: "two, three, four." >

Franklin's Tower (V) > just guitars (x) (4.49) >

10. (x) Franklin's Tower (v) > just guitars and talk (x) (4.48)

06-07-75

11. (x) noodling > Help On The Way > Slipknot (7.15) >

12. Franklin's Tower (v) > JG: "Stunning." (7.58)

13. J. Garcia: "one, two, ah one, two, three, four." >>

Help On The Way > Slipknot (8.00)

14. Lazy Lightning (instr.) (4.50)

15. (x) The Music Never Stopped (instr.) (x) (5.56)

16. Jam (funky stylish?) (fadeout) (6.30)

March xx 1975

17. J. Garcia: "ah two, ah, one, two, three, four." >

Franklin's Tower (v) > "Show (?)" and "A-ow! (?)

at end while still playing > "Well, tha (x)." (4.54)>

notes:

11 to 16. are same as on 06-07-75 Rehearsal at Bob Weir's Studio 17 is the same as 8.

Notes

notes:

Once again, I can't give enough thanks to Will Boswell and Matt Smith, plus Ihor W Slabicky, for this amazing compilation. I've been blissfully lost in it for days :)

This is a wonderful companion for 2-28-75!!!
Incredible jamming and wicked sound!!!
The music seems more exploratory and improvisational in general.

As Matt describes this collection:

"This is a 4 CD set of something called, "Blues Ruffs." It's basically comprised of one long 3 3/4 ips. reel and one 7 1/2 ips. of various outtakes, alternate takes and 2 really spectacular jams (Blues for Allah!! My oh my!!!)!!! (other jams as well like a few versions of 'Orpheus' AKA "The Nines') --- This was a joint effort between Ihor Slabicky (notes, documentation, track markers,etc.) and myself (transfer work, CD formatting) that mainly consisted of 3/75 and 6/75 material."

Moreover, Matt continues, " I'm not completely sure as to what circulates but a lot of this material I've never heard before. All this stuff was in bits and pieces but now we have a compilation. "

This collection overlaps with some sources in circulation yet, in ALL cases, has a better lineage than what currently circulates (these are not from dats or cassettes, just reels masterfully transferred). Furthermore, there seems to be new material in this collection. It's been several years since I've closely studied the studio work from this year, and my sources are buried in storage (I'm in the middle of moving), but I also get the distinct impression that several significant parts of this collection are new to general circulation.

* track notes by Ihor W Slabicky (thanks Ihor!!!)

and another note of appreciation from Matt, "A very special thank you to my long time friend Ihor Slabicky. Without his never ending expert research and knowledge of GD albums, offshoot projects, studio sessions (esp. 1975 material), it would never have been as good as I felt it turned out to be."

** as Taper Pat observes:

"The source for this set of music is from a stash of reels and cassettes of unknown lineage made for JG by Kidd Candelario for listening purposes in the early and mid '70's (how did we play, what did we play, etc..). Kidd did not use archival material in the transfers (equipment, methodology or media) so the sound quality of the stash is variable. However, as time passes and analog sources decay or are MIA, some of the stash is proving to be great interest to the GD community. The stash is most likely copies of the master source, but in some cases (O&ITW 6/6/73 Passaic), most likely is the master."

*** The only portion of this that was a 7 1/2 ips. reel is on D4 where it starts with 6-7-75. Everything else is 3 3/4 ips.

I am not going to go all analytical on this but its a great piece of Greatful Dead history. Some of the best studio work you can find if that's what your looking for or not. The franklins tower though primitive as some said in my opinion is history in the making this whole recording is definitely something I am glad I discovered on archive.org. The help on the way is also really mellow and just the way its instrumental I think is amazing. I would love to know more about how the tape got out as well since it was from bobby's studio so it was not a aud recording.

This is a long compilation which came out last year, a mix of sessions from March & June '75. Some of it is familiar from the other June '75 sets, but there's also a lot of freeform jamming. (The second half of disc 4 duplicates earlier parts of the discs, for some reason, and there are lots of unnecessary track breaks.) There's a lot of repetition, so it may be best sampled in small doses. Disc 1 is basically a selection of the various songs they were practicing: Crazy Fingers, Franklin's Tower, Lazy Lightning, Music Never Stopped, Boring Jam (my name for track 6 - more accurate than "funky stylish jam"), and Help>Slip. The 'meat' is on discs 2 & 3: tracks 10-11 (the "spacely>staccato jam") is probably my favorite jam here, it starts off with just Garcia & drums, but after the rest of the band joins in it gets pretty spacy & interesting. The proto-'Stronger than Dirt' jam after that (tracks 12-17) is kind of dissonant & chaotic; the 'nines' jam from March that ends disc 2 (tracks 20-23) also shows them working on their riffs, and it ends with a nice little 'space'. Disc 3 starts with an interesting long proto-Blues for Allah jam from March (tracks 24-31), then another long 'staccato' jam (32-34) which seemed a bit repetitive - but after all, it's all just practicing! Then fans of Help>Slipknots will be happy to find a few complete versions in a row (tracks 35-37), with plenty of Slipknot action. (One even segues into Franklin's, which is rare in these studio sessions.) We even get an early proto-Slipknot (tracks 39-43) and a few more primitive Franklins (46-48), with Keith's jaunty keyboard grinding into the brain.... Overall, this set is quite an extensive look at what the Dead were up to in mid-'75 and has a lot of unique themes that they dropped - it's probably better to listen in parts though, rather than one jam after another!

Reviewer:dave bradshaw
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May 10, 2009 Subject:
A Work In Progress

Just for the chance to look into these sessions is a treat-------Very Cool!!!! It's too bad we can't see more collections like this of all their albums. Thankyou very much. Peace Always!